It's All Relative
by weebee
Summary: Ranma’s father is not Genma. He is not stupid, rash or particularly greedy, and he always thinks through all of his decisions before making them. How, then, can this make Ranma’s eventual situation just as bad or worse?
1. Prologue

It's All Relative, By Weebee.

Disclaimer: I do not, at least currently, own the rights to any Anime. This includes the two that are part of this fanfic, one of which I cannot identify as of yet.

Summary: Ranma's father is not Genma. He is not stupid, rash or particularly greedy, and he always thinks through all of his decisions before making them. How, then, can this make Ranma's eventual situation just as bad or worse?

Yet another fic I could blame on someone else. This was mostly Jonakhensu's idea, but I DID find it unusual enough to try my hand at it. Yes, I know, lots of stuff being posted ATM... I'm sorry.

Prologue, backstory.

"This place don't look too impressive." A young, pigtailed man snorted as he looked over the valley, its bottom covered in several hundred springs of water.

"Boy, this training ground is important for midair maneuverability." The tall, thin man next to him snapped, irritably. "Now, get up onto those poles," He gestured to several lengths of bamboo that protruded from each pond, "And start moving around the area as quickly as you can. If you're too slow, I will motivate you."

Ranma looked over at the man, noting the expressionless mask of his face, and gulped. He had no desire to find out how his father would 'motivate' him, as even though the other man was much less of a martial artist than his son, he was much more devious outside of a combat situation. Besides, fighting him over an exercise this simple would be pointless.

With a mighty leap, the pigtailed martial artist propelled himself to the top of a pole, balanced there for a few seconds, and was off, moving from one to another with a grace and power that actually brought a small, half-hidden smile to his father's face.

The man was pleased at the progress of his son. The boy was truly one of the most powerful unarmed combatants in recent memory. Watching him turn around and bounce off another pole, the man recalled the map of the springs of this region that he'd memorized earlier that week, noting that the boy was headed for one in particular.

Without pause, the man drew a small pistol from beneath his coat. While Ranma was a much better fighter in general than his father, the older man had been training for years as a marksman even before the boy had been born, and as such was capable of drilling three neat holes in the pole with the armor piercing bullets from the 9mm.

Ranma didn't even notice the shots, as he had been trained to ignore sudden loud noises while fighting, and, when he landed, the pole snapped under his weight. As the boy plunged towards the water, the man actually let loose a soft chuckle. "Exactly to plan." He mumbled, and then closed his eyes. "I will succeed." He reassured himself, as he thought of why he was doing what he was.

HR. – 18 years ago.

Gendo Ikari stood behind his desk in NERV headquarters, his trembling hands clenched into fists as he saw his carefully laid plans coming crashing down around his ears.

It had all started when Katsuragi had refused to follow the trail planted for her and terminate Kaji as she should have. When the man had realized who they'd sent to kill him, he'd somehow thought of it as some ultimate trespass, and turned traitor to both sides.

As it was, he and Katsuragi had blown both NERV and SEELE's plans wide open to the un-controlled portions of the United Nations, and as the highest ranking officer who was known to not be part of the conspiracy, Katsuragi had been put in command of NERV. "I will not let this happen!" The bearded man roared, losing control of his emotions for one of the very few times in his life.

"Sir, we have failed." Former Vice-commander Fuyutsuki replied, calmly. It almost seemed like he'd come to be at piece with this intolerable situation. "Our version of Third Impact will be an impossibility with the UN's full knowledge, and SEELE will likely try to destroy us for our betrayal."

"Then what do you suggest, Fuyutsuki?" Gendo asked, calming himself for the moment. On occasion, the older man had insights that Gendo himself simply lacked, and he was willing to listen.

"We will have to give ourselves up. It is the only method we have of surviving." His former teacher calmly said.

Gendo shook his head, looking down at where ADAM was implanted into his hand. "We've come so far… I won't lose the chance to be with Yui again…" He mumbled, clenching the other hand, and walking around the desk. "I understand what you must do, Kozou," He said, "But please understand this as well."

The grey haired man was about to ask what Gendo meant, when the younger, dark brown haired one removed a pistol from under his long coat, shooting his former compatriot in the head.

Fuyutsuki fell silently, the fact that he was face-on to Gendo concealing the fact that the rounds that had been used had likely ripped a fist sized hole in the back of his head, and the former commander of NERV turned regretfully, starting to run.

HR.

A short while later, Gendo was punching a long code into an electronic lock, cursing himself for a fool. This passage was one of the very few that no one but he knew about in the complex, but it appeared that someone had found it and locked it down. "Trying to run?" A voice came from behind the man, as he turned to see someone who surprised him.

"Dr. Akagi?" He asked, as the blonde stood there, a handgun leveled at his chest.

"Gendo, you're cornered." She said, shaking her head. "Give up."

Gendo looked at the woman, surprised. He'd known that he'd lapsed in keeping her loyal recently, but hadn't much thought of it since his plans were so close to fruition. Still, it appeared that she had him cornered. This would require some work to turn to his advantage, but the Akagi women were nothing if not gullible. "Ritsuko, please I have to go." He said, putting as much of the actual worry and panic he felt as he could into his voice.

"And you expect me to let you?" She asked, sneering. "I'm nothing but a tool to you, I've figured that out now!" She spat, and her pistol wavered.

"Ritsuko, you…" Gendo said, trailing off. "Don't you understand, I've lost everything. NERV is lost to me now, I cannot bring Yui back." He looked away, carefully trying to affect a look of listlessness. "How we were, I know it wasn't ideal, but it is all I have now."

Ritsuko blinked, and then her weapon lowered slightly. "You mean… you… you've given up on that bitch?" She demanded.

Gendo laughed bitterly. "Ritsuko, I know when to cut my losses and run." He stated, mater-of-factly. "If the UN catches me, I will be tried, found guilty of crimes against humanity, and executed. What SEELE will do will be worse. Please, allow me to leave."

Ritsuko pondered for a moment, and then her gun dropped the rest of the way. "You'll take me with you?" She asked, softly.

When Gendo nodded, NERV's top researcher slipped the weapon into her lab coat. Walking up to him, she grabbed him by the shoulders and kissed him. Gendo allowed this, until the explosions from nearby informed him that someone had found the entrance to this passage.

"We have to go, now!" He snapped, and Ritsuko reluctantly moved away from him. Walking to the door that he'd had problems bypassing, she typed in her own code, and it slid aside to reveal a cavernous hall with a small, and rather old by this point, car sitting in the middle.

Gendo nodded. Everything was there as expected. Getting into the vehicle, he gestured for Ritsuko to get in next to him, and the engine, still well maintained after so many years, thrummed to life. As the two sped off, Gendo saw Misato Katsuragi and a small strike team of section 2 troops entering the hall, firing at them impotently.

HR.

It had been a year since that close escape, and Gendo sat in a small computer chair in a run-down apartment that he and Dr. Akagi were living in. It had taken them a very long time to shake off the last of the tails SEELE had planted on them, but they had managed due to judicious use of his own secret escape plans.

Still, almost all of his resources had been captured by one side or the other, before both NERV and SEELE had turned their attention back to battling each-other, this time in a much more public forum. The world had managed to divide itself into factions depending on how much power SEELE had had in each country before the revelation of NERV's original intent, and there was a sort of cold war going on, while the old men used all of the political power they had left to keep the EVAs from moving against them, and they sent small strike forces at Tokyo-3.

Looking at the last manifest of items he had at his disposal, Gendo reluctantly concluded that he didn't have near the resources needed to take the city back, and there for needed a smaller, more subtle plan. Unfortunately, in his arrogance, he'd never figured on having to work with as few resources as he had, but as he paged around in a secret backup of his file folders on the Magi system, something caught his eye.

It had been an idea he'd had, originally, for shaping Shinji before he'd decided against it and left him the spineless, aimless worm that he was today. He'd gotten the idea from an old college friend, a much older man who had taken courses for a reason that Gendo wasn't sure he'd grasped. The man had complained about all he would have done, if he'd had a child, to make him as powerful as possible.

It had seemed to be one of the man's obsessions, along with Sake and catching a girl, to have a son, and mold him into 'the best martial artist of his generation.' Gendo, after having seen what the old fool had been capable of, had realized that someone the man considered better than him, and properly manipulatable, would be immensely useful, so when he'd realized that he had to make Shinji pliable, around 2005, he'd contacted the man again, now a pretty much penniless drifter, and gotten him to actually write down all of his plans for a pretty big chunk of Yen.

"I doubt it would work…" Gendo said, but then shrugged. He would likely have to leave here soon, anyways, and the constant traveling required for the plan would make it harder for any of the authorities to find him if they had a mind to.

"What wouldn't work?" A feminine voice came from behind him, and Gendo sat up slightly in his chair as Ritsuko's arms wrapped around his neck, and the now brown haired woman leaned around to kiss him on the mouth.

Gendo pondered, though he was absolutely sure that he wasn't going to tell Ritsuko what he was really planning. Putting on the best smile he could, he looked up at her. "Ritsuko-chan, how would you like to try for a baby?" He asked, in the loving voice he'd been practicing for the past year.

Seeing her broad smile, he knew that she'd accepted without really considering anything else. "We could get started right now." She said, with a saucy wink.

Gendo nodded, and shut down the computer before walking from the room into the bedroom.

HR.

"You can't be serious!" Ritsuko Akagi exclaimed, as she glared at the man who she'd lived with, on the run from authorities, for the better part of six years.

Gendo Ikari nodded, straightening the straps of the pack that he was currently wearing on his back. It wasn't terribly large, but had all of the things that he intended to take with him inside of it. "It is necessary." He said, calmly.

"But, y… you're just leaving?" Ritsuko asked, sounding both hurt and angry. "And you're taking our son with you?"

Gendo nodded, and started walking towards the door to the next room, where the boy, named "Ranma" after the name his old 'friend' had wanted to give his son, was sitting and slowly trying to puzzle out a book.

"Gendo, you can't do this, you can't just leave after all I've done, I… I thought we actually meant something now?" Ritsuko's voice quavered. She'd known things were going down hill since Ranma had been born. Gendo had seemed to get more distant again, as if he were once again planning something, and they had started moving gradually further from Japan.

Now, the man had reported that he was leaving as casually as he would mention the weather. Shaking his head, he spoke again. "Dr. Akagi, I'm afraid the truth is…" He said, and then turned, leveling a weapon at her. As Ritsuko gasped, he fired, and a small tranquilizer dart hit her in the arm. "That I will call the police as soon as Ranma and I leave."

"…bastard." Ritsuko mumbled, as she felt the tranquilizer take effect, keeling forward and to the floor with a loud thud. Unfortunately, this sound seemed to alert the boy who was reading in the next room, as he put down his book and walked towards the scene. "Poppa?" He asked, worried.

"Don't worry, Ranma." Gendo said, looking down at the boy and into his unearthly red eyes. He wasn't really sure how the boy had obtained those, but it wasn't important at the moment. "Your mother is just sleeping for a while, and we have to leave."

Ranma nodded slowly, looking unsure. "All right, poppa." He said, reluctantly.

HR.

"That was… not pleasant." Gendo Ikari mumbled to himself, as his wounds were tended to by an old woman in a small hut. Nearby, his son was laying on a bed, fast asleep even with the hundreds of small scratches that dotted his body. Gendo had known that the boy was likely to go berserk on him, in fact he'd used the Neko-ken deliberately to create a berserker out of him, given how powerful Unit 01 had been in that state.

He had not, of course, planned for the tranquilizer darts he'd used to try and put the boy down to have no effect, but that wasn't important right now. The most startling thing about the event was that the boy had, when in that berserker rage, manifested an AT field.

Raising one hand, Gendo looked at the glove that concealed the embryonic ADAM, and wondered if that had been what caused this. Still, before now he should have suspected what was going on. The boy's eyes were red, and his hair was a sort of charcoal grey. His skin was almost as pale as Rei's.

This would require completely reworking his plan, but that was not a bad thing. The backup plan that he'd mostly been using to occupy his mind while on the run and waiting for NERV's new management to become complacent was, surprisingly, starting to become actually viable, and with his new tool, he may even be able to retake the place, or at least destroy Katsuragi, Kaji, and the pathetic fool who called himself his son.

HR.

Later, after they had left the old woman's house, and been told rather pointedly not to come back, Gendo sat across the camp fire from his son, looking at him steadily. "Boy?" he asked, calmly, waiting for the other's response.

"Yeah, dad?" Ranma asked, poking at some fish that was cooking over the fire, and occasionally throwing angry glances at the other.

"I'm sorry, Ranma." Gendo said, bringing his son's head up in shock. "When I got the book teaching the Neko-ken, the final page of the technique was torn out. I didn't think it was important, but apparently it was." He said, lying through his teeth.

The young boy frowned. "So you screwed up 'n I ended up getting dropped into a pit full of cats?" He snarled, angrily.

Gendo bit back the urge to chastise Ranma for being so disrespectful. If he wished to cultivate trust in the boy, and make him think that the cat-fist was an accident, he would have to be careful. "Yes," He said, simply. "However, the technique you did learn was very powerful, and now I believe it's time for me to share a much more practical lesson with you."

Ranma blinked, then his eyes narrowed. He wanted to snap back, though he knew that whenever his father talked to him like this, he was being serious, and whenever the old man had something serious to say, it was best to listen, because though Ranma was loathed to admit it, he was usually right.

Seeing that Ranma's full attention was focused on him, Gendo started to speak. "I know what you have learned of the art from the teachers I took you to. I listened to every statement, and though I find some of them foolish, I will let you decide. Still, though I am not a martial artist, there's a principle that I understand, and that you should know. When a plan fails, adapt." He said, simply, and then seemed to drift off slightly.

"No matter what force is in your way, it is always possible to recover, to keep going, to succeed in your goal even if it takes you time." Gendo proclaimed. "Plan, strategize, attempt to discern your opponent's strategies…" He shrugged. "Even this problem with cats, you can learn to utilize it, and I have already started planning ways to help you with something that I saw when you were in that state."

"What…" Ranma started, before being cut off by Gendo's upraised hand. Thinking about what his father had said, it seemed to ring true. With all of the different styles he'd learned, he'd already had to try and adapt his art to incorporate them, and this idea was just an extension of that. "I… think I understand." The ten year old said, nodding.

Gendo nodded back, feeling a swell of pride for a moment, before squashing it mercilessly. His second son was a tool, nothing else, just as his first had been. This time, however, he was going to ensure that it could cut when the time came.

HR.

"Kijiin Raishu Dan!" Ranma shouted, his arms whipping forward at a tree across a clearing from him, and bright orange energy flying from them in semi-circular arcs. As the blasts bisected the tree, he frowned. He still couldn't get them to the point where they wouldn't just slice the thing to pieces, and though his father told him not to worry about it, he wanted to be able to take out an enemy from range without killing them.

He'd discovered years ago that his father's ideals were far different from his own, but hadn't really wanted to get into a yelling match with the man, because every time he did, it seemed that the taller non-martial artist could twist things around to make it seem like eliminating opponents quickly, cleanly and brutally was the most important thing in the world.

Still, to Ranma that felt wrong, and a lot of the Sensei he'd trained under agreed with him, which meant that the attack scrolls his father had given him to master had to be revised. At least, the Yama-Senken did, while the other one was more for reconnaissance and stealth, which Ranma really didn't have much of a problem with.

Frowning, he formed the field of energy in front of him that was the external form of his 'chi,' a set of octagons, each smaller than the ones before it. He'd asked a lot of people why his energy naturally manifested like that, but no one seemed to have an answer for it. Concentrating on the form, he pulled it back inside of himself, and shot his arms out again, sending the two energy blades out to cut down yet another poor, unfortunate tree.

Nearby, Gendo watched with a sense of satisfaction. He had been right that Ranma would be much more easily able to learn the energy attacks his old 'friend' had mentioned due to his AT field, and with abilities of that power at his disposal, he could likely take out anything NERV had, short of the EVAs themselves.

Clearing his throat to ensure that he wasn't going to be bisected by an energy blade, Gendo walked into the clearing. "Pops?" Ranma asked, looking over to him, and he frowned. He truly hated that name, but as long as the boy obeyed him, bringing down discipline on something like that would be pointless, and breed resentment.

"We're headed for our next training ground tonight, boy." Gendo replied. "It is called 'Jusenkyo.'"

"Jusen… what?" Ranma asked, confused.

"It is a training ground where ancient warrior tribes used to train, before the second impact destroyed many of the villages in the area." Gendo explained. "I feel that training there will be… beneficial."

"Yeah, sure." Ranma said, shrugging. "When're we heading out?"

"Tomorrow morning, I have to do some preparing tonight." Gendo said, and walked off.

HR. – present time.

As his son fell into the water, Gendo Ikari smiled. This was, oddly enough, the culmination of his plan for the boy, the one that had been cobbled together when Ranma had been revealed to be half-angel, just as Rei Ayanami was.

It meant that the boy could break into Central Dogma, and even cause the third impact if Gendo was with him, and the man believed that he held enough control over the boy to guide the process, even if he didn't have as much as he once did over Rei.

Still, as a head poked itself out of the water, Gendo let his attention refocus on his child, looking over the changes. Ranma had, definitely, changed. The most noticeable thing at the moment was the hair, which had lightened from Ranma's normal grey to an extremely pale pink. Gendo briefly wondered where that had come from, before remembering that Ritsuko's father had had red hair, and it made a sort of twisted sense.

As the child pulled itself the rest of the way from the water, and looked down to see the surprisingly large breasts it now had, her eyes shot up, looking around rapidly until they locked on Gendo and narrowed. "Pop, what the hell've ya done?" She snarled, her voice curiously sounding a lot like Ritsuko's.

"…Ranma?" Gendo asked, trying to act surprised. Unfortunately, the pink haired girl wasn't buying it, pulling herself out of the water and stomping towards him. "You… how could ya take me to a place like this, Pop?" She snarled, then cracked her knuckles.

"This is probably going to hurt." Gendo observed, sighing. The things he did in order to bring Yui back were truly amazing, sometimes. As Ranma charged for him, he started running, but knew it was useless, especially since the girl seemed to be ever so slightly faster than she'd been while male.

HR.

Half an hour later, Gendo was nursing a large collection of bruises and scowling at Ranma, who was sitting across a small hut from him. There was a third person, a woman a little younger than Gendo himself, standing between them. "So, you change when you splashed with cold water, and back with hot. You see, yes?" She asked, cheerfully.

"Yeah." Ranma muttered, irritably. "So if yer the guide here, why weren't ya here ta warn us away from the place?"

The woman, who had introduced herself as Plum, shook her head sadly. "Got a message from the village that father was sick, he very old, had to go see." She answered.

Ranma sighed, and glared at his father. "Is there any way ta get rid of the curse?" He asked.

The woman shook her head. "There spring of drowned man, but no can use until curse settles down, will take several years." She answered. "Joketsu Zoku once maybe know of cure, but they destroyed in impact."

"Great." Ranma said, giving his father a hostile glare. "I can't believe you were that stupid, ol' man. I thought you knew Chinese, didn't the name "Accursed springs" kinda tip ya off?"

Gendo scowled. "I didn't think of it, actually." He admitted, trying to look sheepish. "However, I believe I know of a cure for the curse."

"You what?" Ranma asked, bolting up excitedly.

Gendo nodded. "There is an artifact in Japan that I know of, it will fix this problem, and though it is dangerous for me to venture back there, I will help you obtain it. The curse was, as you pointed out, my fault after all."

Ranma thought for a moment, then nodded. His father looked very serious about this, and he definitely didn't want to end up having to turn into a woman for the rest of his life, or even the next few years. "Fine." He grumbled, irritably. "When can we go?"

Gendo just smiled.

HR.

It had taken them two months to get back into Japan, mostly because they had to avoid any authorities. Ranma had really been curious about why his father was so reluctant to be seen in any of the major cities in this country, but had never gotten any satisfactory answers. Personally, Ranma'd always thought that the man had stolen something he shouldn't before he was born, but hadn't really cared enough to ask.

Fortunately, Tokyo-3 was actually pretty close to the coastline, so it had taken very little more time to get there after they got off of a steamer from China. "So, um, this is the place?" Ranma asked, irritably looking out from the small line of trees that they were standing in and at the huge buildings of Japan's largest and most technically advanced city.

"Yes." Gendo nodded, solemnly. "Unfortunately, the place has probably changed layouts since I was here last, and I'm unsure if the artifact is still here."

"So ya want me ta go in and try to find one of those people ya showed me pictures of, right?" Ranma asked, snorting. He really didn't like the idea of kidnapping people, but he didn't have any plans to actually hurt them, and it was worth doing some questionable things in order to get the damned curse cured.

Gendo nodded. "Bring whoever you find back here, understood?" He asked. Ranma didn't reply, fading out of Gendo's sight. Now, all the man had to do was wait. He would finally get revenge on the people who had stopped him, keeping him from resurrecting Yui. For a moment, he actually had to hold back manic laughter, but quickly stifled it and moved back into the tree line.

HR.

Ranma moved through the city relatively easily. The place was full of people, but none of them seemed to be any good at sensing Chi, and his screen seemed to be keeping him shielded well enough. He knew that it didn't work on electronic equipment, though, so he tried to keep a low profile.

As he got to a door that his father had specified, the young martial artist tapped in a code, waiting for the thing to hiss open. Much to his surprise, it did so. His father had given him at least five different options for ways in, and it seemed almost too convenient that he'd made it through the first one.

Still, he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth, and quickly proceeded down an old, dust and dirt filled tunnel that seemed to go down forever. The place was starting to creep him out by the time he got to the bottom, and realized why he'd gotten in so easily.

Where there was supposed to be a doorway, there was now a heavy concrete plug. Ranma frowned at it for a moment, considering going back up and finding another way in, but Gendo had told him that all the others would be guarded, at the least.

Sighing, he decided to start making some noise, and gathered his energy towards him. Concentrating, he tried once more to form blunt instruments rather than vacuum blades, but as he brought his hands down in an X-shaped pattern, the concrete seemed to be cut straight through. Grunting in irritation, he gestured again, causing a square of the wall to fall away.

After ensuring that the coast was clear, the martial artist crawled through the hole, emerging in a hallway on the other side.

HR.

Asuka Langley Soryu-Ikari sat in her office, checking over various bits of paperwork. Ever since the fight with SEELE had ended, a mere four years ago, the UN had been pressuring NERV to shut itself down. Unfortunately, after a long time with no real threats that needed an EVA called out over, they were starting to lose the fight.

Stamping the resource requisition she'd been looking over and wishing that Misato was still doing this job, rather than commanding the base, the thirty-two year old woman got up, stretching casually and starting out of the room. As she turned down the hall, she thought she heard something, and quickly turned around.

Seeing that the hall was empty, she was about to dismiss the previous sound as paranoia, when someone grabbed her in a hold. Almost immediately, she tried to counter with the hand to hand training she'd been given, but her assailant only grunted in pain once from the first kick she'd landed to his shin, and then held her more tightly.

"C'mon, just be quiet 'n I won't have to knock ya out." A voice whispered in Asuka's ear, and she snarled, screaming something out past the hand over her mouth. "Shit." The voice continued, as a set of alarms went off, and a voice reverberated over a hidden PA system. "Blue Pattern within the base, in sector H-154." It proclaimed, and Asuka's eyes widened. She'd been captured by an angel?

Fighting much harder, she found every method she knew of breaking a hold was useless, as the extremely strong figure who was holding her started guiding them both down the hall. This, she decided, was not her day.

HR.

Ranma Ikari winced as the struggling form he was holding tried, once more, to bite him. This was really not going very well, but he didn't want to knock her out.

Hitting non-combatant females had always bothered him, and from the ineffectual way she'd been struggling against his hold ever since he'd grabbed her, this woman was definitely a non-combatant.

He'd had a lot of trouble keeping her quiet after they'd gotten out of the tunnel he'd used to get into the Geofront, but he'd managed it with only a few odd looks, given he'd managed to extend the Umi-Senken's cloak over her. His knees felt like hamburger from the many times the woman had kicked him, and some of the terms he could just barely make out past her covered mouth made even him kind of embarrassed.

When he'd finally gotten back to the edge of the city, more than two hours later, the pigtailed martial artist gratefully dropped the woman, where-upon she started screaming at him. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" She bellowed, after scrambling to her feet.

"Look, I'm sorry, I just came ta get some information from you." Ranma said, calmly. "I don't wanna hurt you."

"You don't…" Asuka sputtered, looking at the young boy before her. As she did so, she had to blink a little in shock. The boy looked like some demented cross between Shinji and Rei, though the white martial arts outfit he wore, and the sheepish look on his face, set him apart.

"Boy, you really shouldn't say things like that or you give away your intimidation advantage." Came a voice that Asuka was very familiar with, even if she hadn't seen the man for over sixteen years.

Turning quickly, the red haired woman saw Gendo Ikari striding out of the trees, a smirk on his face and a small automatic pistol in one hand.

"Gendo." She hissed, only keeping herself from charging at him due to the fact that he had a gun aimed at her chest. "You went and created another little doll, and you're back for more?" She sneered.

"Another doll?" Ranma asked, confused. "What's goin on here, ol' man?"

Asuka blinked in surprise, and then looked between Gendo and the boy who'd captured her. "You can't be…" She started, before Gendo cut her off.

"Be quiet, Second Child, and tell me what I want to know!" He snarled. "Are Shinji, Katsuragi and Kaji still at NERV?"

"Why don't you see for yourself, dummkopf." Asuka sneered, as a loud reverberation echoed from nearby. Ranma looked around in shock. If it weren't for the fact that they were out in the open, he would have sworn that that was the sound of a metal covered foot hitting concrete, amplified a hundred times.

Finally, when he turned around completely, he noticed a large, purple and green form towering above most of the buildings in the city. "What the hell is that?" He gasped, and Gendo cursed. He hadn't expected them to have launched the EVAs yet, but it was no matter. His vengeance would come soon enough.

"That is an Evangelion." He said, "And we must leave now."

Ranma was about to nod in agreement when the trees nearby rustled, and several people in full combat gear exited them. "Damn!" He exclaimed, immediately taking up a position in front of his father and the red haired woman. Those guys were carrying a lot of hardware, and though he was confused and irritated at the old man at the moment, he didn't want him dead.

Concentrating, he brought out the octagonal field, raising it like a shield in front of the three of them. Nearby, the red haired woman gasped, and he could hear his father mumbling curses.

"Give up, or we will begin firing." A calm, female voice from one of the armor clad figures said. Oddly enough, the sound seemed familiar to Ranma, for some reason.

The pigtailed boy looked over to his father, who snarled inarticulately. "I will not be stopped again!" He roared, withdrawing his gun and aiming it at the redhead.

"Old man, what the hell're you doing?" Ranma demanded, shocked, but his father didn't listen, firing. Asuka had started moving first, however, and just barely managed to roll out of the way. Just then, the NERV security group started firing at Gendo, though Ranma's AT Field deflected the bullets. "Why'd you try and shoot her? We weren't supposed ta do that!" Ranma objected, angrily.

"Shut up, you useless boy!" Gendo snarled, this time loosing a shot at Ranma that caused him to falter, the barrier he'd formed crashing down. Almost instantly thereafter, the figure in the middle of the group of enemies cupped its hands, and fired a ball of orange energy that picked the young martial artist up and smashed him against a tree.

"Gurk…" He groaned, just as the universe seemed to grow hazy, and he slumped to the ground, his eyes closing from the shock of the impact. The last thing he'd seen was his father cackling like a madman and turning his weapon on the group of soldiers.

END.

At the moment, at least, I have no idea what's going to happen to this. For now, I hope you just think of it as an odd what-if, and don't hurt me too badly.

Anyhow, shutting up. Please R&R!


	2. Prologue 2: Woops

Hi. It's Weebee again with a bit of a confession to make. When I originally wrote this, I thought of it as a spamfic. As such, I sort of ended the previous chapter on a cliffhanger that, while really good for the one-off nature it was meant for, shoots continuation in the foot. As such, this chapter doesn't really feel like Chapter 1, more a continuation of the prologue to get it from where it left off to someplace where an actual momentum building Chapter 1 can start.

I'm sorry about that, and hope you don't mind and enjoy anyhow.

And now, on with the show!

Prologue 2: Woops...

Three people stood in front of a re-enforced glass pane, looking into the steel walled room where a teenaged boy lay on a bed, several dozen wires and tubes sticking out of his arms. "You're sure the sedative's working?" An older woman with a few grey streaks in her dark hair asked.

A black haired man in a medical coat nodded. "He's trying to burn it off, metabolisms a lot faster than the average human, but he can't do it fast enough."

The woman nodded. "I still don't like this," She complained, glaring irritably at the redhead next to her.

Asuka matched Misato's glare. "I know that," she responded, "But if he means the re-emergence of the Angels, it would be a good idea to study one that'll have a hard time destroying the city." She then shrugged. "Besides, I'm not sure if he even knows what he is."

The commander of NERV reluctantly nodded in agreement. It didn't surprise her in the least that, somehow, Gendo Ikari had managed to manipulate an Angel, and if it weren't for her security concerns about the thing's containment, she would have gone to 'talk' to the old bastard before now. "Keep it under for the time being," she finally decided after a few minutes of thinking. "We're only waking it up with Rei and a full squad of guards present."

"Yes ma'am." The doctor said, and the two women turned, starting down the hall.

"So, um, how's Shinji taking it?" The redhead asked, as they passed through a security door into the rest of the complex.

"How do you think?" The look on the dark haired woman's face was incredulous. "He was demanding immediate retrieval five seconds after the security team confirmed Ikari's identity."

Asuka nodded, realizing that if she'd heard that Gendo had returned and then promptly kidnapped Shinji, she'd probably start chewing through the armor shell just to get to him and wring his neck. "You warned security, right?" She asked, hopefully. Misato smirked as the elevator the two were riding reached its destination floor, the doors opening to a stream of curses and a grunt of discomfort. The former second child sighed. "So, when do I get my turn?"

"Sorry," Misato pitched her voice to carry into the holding cell the two were approaching. "But we've got to find out where the hell he got a new angel before I let you loose on him." The cursing abruptly stopped, and as the two women entered the room, they saw a tall, slim man standing against one wall, attempting to look innocent. Leaning against the bunk across the room was Gendo Ikari, looking startlingly similar to the man who had run from NERV over a decade and a half ago. Misato even irritably noted that he didn't have a sliver of grey in his hair.

The former commander of NERV hauled himself up onto the bench, obviously favoring one side and with one eye steadily darkening. "Though it's startling to see that the third has finally grown a spine, it's good that you're here, Katsuragi." He said, in his usual even tone, though the effect wasn't nearly as off-putting as it had been from behind his desk and shiny amber glasses.

The tall man leaning against the wall scowled, though he settled slightly when Asuka approached. "So, Shinji, couldn't wait to start questioning him, huh?" She asked, casually.

Abruptly, his menacing facade fell, and a rather sheepish looking Shinji Ikari shifted on his feet. Asuka just put an arm around his own as Misato stood before Gendo, her hands clasped behind her back. "A United Nations force will be here to pick you up in about three hours," She started, conversationally. "Before they get here, I'd like you to answer some questions."

The dark haired man on the bench raised an eyebrow. "And I would willingly do this because..." He trailed off.

Misato wanted to slug the elder Ikari, a sentiment that most of NERV shared to the extent that Shinji probably hadn't had to dismiss the guards before he did so, but she held back. "It all has to do with what I tell them," she continued. "Either you used a formerly unknown weapon to break into NERV and kidnap one of our officers, later getting into a gunfight with security, or you came here fleeing a SEELE strike team and asking for our help."

"Misato, you can't be..." Shinji objected, moving forward, only to be stopped short by a glare.

"He came with an Angel, Shinji." She responded. "We need to know if there are any others out there, and if letting this slime ball off gets us the information, then so be it."

Gendo chuckled. "So, you've actually grown up. That would explain why NERV wasn't a smoldering ruin three weeks after I left." He then seemed to think for a moment, looking briefly at Shinji, then Asuka. "As for the boy, you don't have to worry about him, he's not an Angel."

"So it can project AT fields because it wishes really hard, then." Misato said, dubiously.

"I believe you already have something within this facility that can do that, which you do not call an Angel," Shinji twitched, and Gendo just barely held back a smile. Despite the several blows he'd taken during the younger man's 'stress relief,' he'd listened carefully. "What does the second call it, my little doll? You obviously haven't decided to dispose of it, since it attacked Ranma and I outside of the city."

"You heartless..." Shinji started, lunging towards his father before anyone could think to stop him. Gendo responded with startling speed, driving a toe into the top of his son's foot, and then slamming both hands into his chest as hard as he could. The old self-defense technique worked like a charm, sending the younger man slamming into Misato, both of them falling to the floor. Asuka tried to get in his way, but an elbow to the nose sent her staggering against the wall. By the time any of them had recovered, the former commander of NERV had run out of sight into the labyrinthine depths of the facility.

HR.

"Wake up!" This imperative command was called at the same time as a strike to the side of the face, and a stinging sensation from all along both arms. "Ranma, wake up!" This time, he was being shaken. Whoever wanted him to get up was pretty excited about it, and sounded a lot like his father, but the fog that enveloped his brain refused to let him connect those facts.

"Lemme sleep," he complained, rolling over and bringing the unusually soft blanket up over his head. The blanket was abruptly pulled away, and he was shaken again. "Wake up!" This time, the call actually sounded somewhat desperate, and he could hear the sound of something being pounded on in the background. He managed to half crack open his eyes, though the bright white light forced them shut again, at just about the same time that the loud banging noise changed to the sound of rending metal.

"That's it," He could definitely recognize the voice as his father's now, and the fog was slowly lifting from his thoughts, however that didn't matter a few seconds later, as he heard a set of rapidly muttered numbers and started screaming.

HR.

Shinji flinched as he ran a finger along a cleanly cut, six inch wide piece of metal that had once been one of the Geofront's security doors. The hall he was standing at the end of had once had fourteen of them, each now missing a substantial portion of their mass. The guards that had been stationed at the other end of the hall were also missing a substantial portion of their mass, but he made sure to keep his eyes from turning to them, for fear that his lunch would return for a second round if he did. "How did he do this?" he finally asked, turning to Asuka, who was standing next to him.

"He managed to get into the biological holding area and somehow awoke the Angel," she explained. "We've confirmed, despite what he said it's definitely an Angel. Central Dogma had it putting out as much power as the third."

The third child nodded. "all right, then let's launch Unit 01 and track it down," he decided, clenching one fist.

"Can't," she responded, handing him a report as they started for Central Dogma. "The signal just suddenly dipped below the threshold of detectability when they broke through the top armor layer."

"My father's very good at hiding," Shinji mumbled, his former angry energy fading away. "And I gave him the perfect excuse to do it."

Asuka concidered trying to comfort Shinji, to tell him that it wasn't his fault, but she'd never been very good at hollow comfort, especially since it had actually been his fault that Gendo Ikari had escaped, even if he'd been provoked. "We'll catch him," she finally said, smirking. "He won't get away again."

Shinji sighed. He'd apparently noticed what had not been said. "I'm going to head home. Call me if Unit 01's needed."

The former second child nodded, frowning at the EVA pilot's receding back as he turned off the route to Central Dogma.

HR.

Ranma coughed, sending a spray of water forward and away from her mouth as she awoke, cold, wet and uncomfortable on a stone ramp in front of a torn up set of steel industrial doors. It took her several seconds to get the water out of her lungs and stop her head from spinning, but she eventually managed it, taking in her surroundings.

"Aw crap, the ol' man's gunna kill me," she muttered, recalling the lecture he'd given the last time she'd let her fear of cats overcome her. Then, she noticed that, instead of her white training gi, she was wearing some sort of thin white gown that was doing nothing about the still pouring down rain, and there were several patches of tape and tiny cuts all over her arms. She tried to remember what had happened recently, and why she was in a hospital gown, but everything seemed to be a blank past the incident with the red haired woman. She still hadn't figured out what was up with that, and why the old man went crazy, so she really wasn't equipped to deal with this.

Her head shot up as she heard the sound of a vehicle engine approaching, and natural instincts combined with modesty caused her to scuttle into a depression in the concrete wall at the edge of the ramp she'd been laying on. A moment later, a jeep came to a stop nearby, and four people dressed in tan military uniforms climbed out. "No sign of 'em out here," one reported into a headset mic.

"I'm glad of that, you see that door?" another responded, shuddering. "Those poor bastards inside didn't stand a chance."

"All right, cut the chatter and scout around, we've got to find these two," the first snapped, and Ranma risked leaning out for a second to see that he was holding a mean looking assault weapon and looked rather jittery. She knew one thing now. Whatever had happened after she'd been knocked out hadn't been good, and it probably wouldn't be good for her health if she let herself be caught. Shimmying up the crevice as quietly as she could, she pulled herself onto the ground above, bolting into a nearby alley before one of the soldiers who was still sitting in the jeep could spot her.

She had to find her father - wherever he was - and get some answers.

HR.

Gendo Ikari was not a man prone to cursing. Then, he wasn't a man prone to mad cackling or desperate chases through cramped corridors, either, and that hadn't seemed to matter lately. Noting that, he cursed softly as he huddled in a forest clearing outside of Tokyo-3, nursing several aches and bruises, and back to square one where NERV was concerned, after eighteen years of planning.

Granted, he'd done a great deal of damage on his way out, but none of it was permanent, and a snag in one of his own plans guaranteed that he wouldn't do any more. For starters, the boy was almost certainly dead. He hadn't counted on the effects of the curse he'd used to manipulate him negating the berserker rage of the Neko-Ken, but they had, and he didn't have the strength to carry a truly unconscious Ranma, even in his smaller cursed form, while still running fast enough to escape. Now the boy was vulnerable, and after the damage he'd done, they were sure to destroy him rather than take the risk.

About the only new asset he had was a set of the MAGI's new security codes, gathered through one of Ritsuko's old direct input administration accounts, but he couldn't do much with that without them noticing and just locking him out. At the moment, he had no idea what to do, but freezing to death definitely wasn't an option, and NERV security would likely be combing the forest within hours. Grunting, he hauled himself to his feet, and started away from the fortress city.

HR.

Ranma scowled, spotting three more of the uniformed troops sorting through her and her father's possessions as she reached their camp site. Fortunately, fearing something like this, she had approached through the trees, but she'd really been hoping that she would find her old man and a kettle full of hot water. Her eyes narrowed in anger when she saw them pawing through her pack, throwing a red chinese silk shirt that she'd saved up enough to buy only recently into the mud. It was an incredibly stupid thing to get angry over considering the situation but she was cold, and though she wouldn't admit it, a little scared.

Leaping out of the tree, she fell on the back of one of the NERV security officers, rendering him unconscious with a blow to the back of the head before diving for the next. He raised his gun, firing several shots which bounced off of a rippling orange field before he too hit the ground. By the time the one who had been sorting through her pack had gotten to his feet and turned around, all he saw was a fist crashing into his jaw and sending him back several feet.

As he flew, a slip of paper flittered out of a loosely fastened pocket on his shirt, and Ranma caught it. It was a shoot on sight order, a set of pictures at the top. One was of her, in male form, and the other was of her father, though he wore a dark jacket and set of glasses she hadn't seen before. "Well, crap." She muttered, thinking that though they'd been chased out of a few villages before none had put hits out on them.

Quickly, she grabbed both her and her parent's packs and leapt back into the trees.

HR.

"Still nothing?" Asuka asked, as she walked up next to Misato, standing on the upper bridge in Central Dogma.

The dark haired woman shook her head. "One flicker of AT field in the forest about an hour ago," she replied. "Vanished as soon as it came, and when the investigation team reached it all they found were unconscious security forces."

"What'd they have to say when they woke up?" The redhead asked, curious.

"They kept muttering about a red eyed ghost," the Katsuragi woman snorted. "I'm guessing it was the Angel, but it's strange... it didn't do anything to them."

The german nodded. "I can take over for you if you want to get home," she offered. She knew that the older woman now had a family, and didn't usually pull these kinds of hours anymore.

"You'll inform me if either of them shows up?" Misato demanded, sternly.

"First place I'll call," Asuka reassured, watching as a look of relief spread across the purple haired woman's face and she turned to leave the room. She, herself, sighed and slumped down in the now vacant commander's chair, letting her eyes range around the consoles and screens below her.

In years past, in a situation like this, there would have been people at every post, frantically shooting status reports back and forth as the status screens cycled from MAGI feeds, to camera readouts, to ready checks on the EVAs. Now, there were only three technicians sitting at the main control stations, as if the place were settling down for the night.

She shrugged. Who knew, with this new Angel sighting maybe NERV would start getting restaffed.

HR.

Ranma nodded to herself as she jimmied the door open easily, wincing at the creaking sound it made as it swung. The run down apartment building she now stood in had been selected specifically because, while very old and dilapidated, it showed evidence of recent maintenance, and there was even a working security camera at the street level door. The next day, if she were lucky, she may even be able to coax some water up out of the utility room.

It was true, she didn't know how long she was staying around the city, but she didn't really intend to leave until she'd found her father and gotten some answers to what the heck was going on, not necessarily in that order. She smiled as she dug some dry clothes out of her pack. Who knew, she may even find that artifact the old man muttered about, the one that cured curses. Of course, all of that would have to wait, at least until the local authorities stopped sending out guard details with pictures of her face and orders to kill.

She slipped her red shirt over her head, tugging it on and grimacing at a small blotch of mud that was still on it, before a sound disturbed her. Her head shot up, as she heard what she could have sworn was another rusty, steel door opening, but when no further noises were evident after about five minutes, she shook her head and continued preparing her temporary home.

END.

Okay, that's it for now. Please R&R


End file.
